Optical fiber has been established as the transmission medium of choice for telecommunications, supporting very high bandwidth over long distances and providing a capability that far exceeds the copper-wire technology it replaces. Research is now looking at a possibility of applying optical interconnect to shorter-distance interconnections within computers, such as board-to-board, module-to-module and chip-to-chip. Other potential applications of optical interconnect are as (1) a cabinet-to-cabinet parallel data-communications link, (2) a processor interconnect primarily for parallel processors and/or a server interconnect to I/O, such as disk farms or distributed box-to-box, (3) a backplanes/concentrator interconnect for both military and commercial applications, (4) a telecommunications interconnect, such as a centralized switch-to-switch interconnect, and (5) microcell-to-microcell interconnect.
The above potential applications are complicated by the fact that computers are currently feasibly limited to implementations supported by electrical signal transmissions. Computers using substantially optical transmissions are far from being a feasible alternative. Therefore, the integration of optical fiber technology with present-day traditional computer systems requires conversions of signals from optical to electrical and vice versa.
At present, optical transceivers are cost-prohibitive for many applications. Packaging, including optical coupling, of these transceivers represents a significant portion of the link total cost, in many cases over 40% of total cost. Furthermore, the anticipated future applications using parallel optical links to enhance bandwidth through space division multiplexing, and the adding of physical channels, will be even more packaging cost sensitive than current serial implementations, since more channels and components must be integrated into the packaged assembly. A packaging approach that is cost effective promises wider application acceptability.
As a result of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a cost efficient connector assembly for optical transceivers for the coupling and conversion of optical signals to electrical signals and vice versa.